Another strong win for Wingard

Lewiston trainer Des Hockley has recently been picking up more than his share of winners at Gawler greyhounds, and on Tuesday added the winner of the feature race to his score. The Future Stars Final this year was restricted to SA Bred greyhounds whelped in 2012 and while it didn’t attract the level of support it has in other years, the times that were run were excellent, indicating the quality of the runners.

In the event over the 531m journey, there was an even break and it took a while for a distinct leader to emerge. When they went out of the straight the first time, Wingard from box 6 had crossed to the rails to lead from littermates Mombasa Boy (4) and Macca’s Spirit (2). Wingard got out to a 4 length break by the time they got to the back turn. Long Gully Mark (7) was running home strongly, followed by Raja’s Ogre (1), but they were unable to make up the required ground before Wingard crossed the line, recording a 2 ½ length win  in the excellent time of 30.54 secs. Long Gully Mark ran home well to get second place for Paula Hearnden of Angaston, while Raja’s Ogre was third for Don Turner of Lewiston. Wingard is trained by Des Hockley for partner Renata Maruszczyk. With them being Power fans and it being a white and black dog, it was natural to name him after a prominent player.

Des said that Wingard needs to have a clear run at the start to do his best, which he was able to have in this run, as there was a vacant box on his inside. He ran second in the heat the previous week, and has an excellent race record of 16 wins and 12 placings from just 34 race starts. 

Kim Johnstone and Todd Kelly provided the doubles on the day with Lochinvar Rip and Big Shep, and Young Gun McBain and Taser McBain respectively.

Racing at Gawler is on every Tuesday afternoon and an afternoon meeting is on Friday 16th.